The Emergence of Strategic Portfolio Management (SPM)
2021 was a watershed year for the Project & Portfolio Management (PPM) market with the bifurcation of the PPM category into Strategic Portfolio Management and Adaptive Project Management.
At its core, Strategic Portfolio Management (SPM) is the enterprise capability for continuous delivery of business benefits and the practice of managing an ever more complex portfolio of programs, projects, and products. By comparison, Adaptive Project Management is essentially the practice of managing project delivery.
Increasingly, organizations around the globe are pursuing digital transformation to keep pace with the demands of customer expectations and to outpace their competitors. The need for digital transformation is indisputable, yet too many organizations fail in their endeavors to deliver the expected business benefits from their often enormous investments.
Thankfully, through Strategic Portfolio Management Software companies like those mentioned below SPM is here to help business leaders not only implement strategy-to-execution alignment but to unlock the tracking of business value from the programs, projects, and products they invest in.
Agile management of value delivery is the role of SPM software and organizations who invest in developing this critical capability stand to outperform their competitors.
The Strategic Portfolio Management companies below are all considered by industry analysts as leaders in the Strategic Portfolio Management market. When considering investment in SPM tools it’s important to understand that SPM consists of three primary Use Cases, Strategy Execution Management (SEM), Enterprise Program & Portfolio Management (EPPM), and Integrated IT Portfolio Analysis (IIPA). The Strategic Portfolio Management companies in this market analysis have strengths in each of these three Use Cases and, depending on your organization’s requirements, a particular Use Case, and therefore vendor may be more aligned to your specific requirements than another. The following list is designed to help organizational leaders who are considering Strategic Portfolio Management companies to better understand the options available in the market.
The 3 Use Cases of SPM
Strategy Execution Management (SEM)
For Strategy Leaders SEM is the process in which business strategically formulate, and plan strategic enterprise efforts and measure the performance of these efforts. SEM is integral to continuous improvement and the ability to drive incrementally better outcomes for the business. SPM platforms provide Strategy and Execution Leaders with the data they need to make better business decisions in the pursuit of strategic business benefits.
Enterprise Program & Portfolio Management (EPPM)
Many organizations invest in an Enterprise Project Management Office (ePMO). The ePMO and EPPM software connect the various people and processes necessary for successful delivery of transformation programs. Businesses that are focused on continuous transformation efforts need ways to ensure governance, while increasing transparency, driving a culture of accountability, and ensuring program, project and product success. SPM software helps ePMO’s to deliver on this requirement.
Integrated IT Portfolio Analysis (IIPA)
IT Leaders are responsible for ensuring that the digital platforms and capabilities that exist in an organization are sufficient to support the pursuit of the overall strategic objectives of the business. SPM vendors enable IT Leaders to understand the role they play in supporting the organization with dynamic, versatile ways of analyzing, connecting, and managing the technology architecture. SPM software also helps IT Leaders understand where opportunities for technology consolidation may exist.
Ultimately, whether your organization requires a platform for assisting Strategy Leaders with strategic alignment and outcomes, or the ePMO requires a single platform of truth to manage increasingly complex digitally enabled delivery, or your IT organization desires a view of how their technology platforms enable the achievement of the organizations most strategic outcomes then Strategic Portfolio Management Software is for you. The following list is a roundup of the 8 Best SPM providers in 2021 and their average review scores as found on Gartner Peer Insights, as at the time of publishing.
Shibumi
Categories: Strategy Execution Management, Strategic Portfolio Management
Shibumi is a focused vendor in the SPM space with an emphasis on the Strategy Execution Management and Enterprise Program & Portfolio Management (EPPM) Use Cases of SPM. Shibumi has been helping the world’s leading organizations and their Advisory Firm partners to deliver better business outcomes for over a decade. Shibumi has the most customizable SPM solution that caters to the needs of even the most specific customer requirements.
4.8 Stars
100% would recommend
Planview Enterprise One & Planview PPM Pro (formerly Innotas)
Categories: Project & Portfolio Management, Enterprise Architecture Tools
Planview is a traditional PPM and work management organization. With multiple solutions offered in the PPM and SPM space, they have emerged as one of the few SPM vendors recognized by Gartner. With a number of recent acquisitions, including ChangePoint (see below) integration of these various solutions will be key for the future of Planview SPM.
4.2 Stars (PPM)
53% would recommend
UMT360
Category: Integrated IT Portfolio Analysis
Despite not having any SPM sepecific reviews, UMT360 is an organization that operates primarily out of North America. The UMT360 is a product and services organization with multiple products and services in the Strategic Portfolio Management and Integrated IT Portfolio Analysis space.
4.5 Stars (IIPA)
75% would recommend
Changepoint
Category: Integrated IT Portfolio Analysis, Project Portfolio Management
Changepoint, a recent acquisition of Planview, has been established in the PPM and IIPA space for several years. Their recent acquisition by Planview may affect their impact in the SPM market in the short to mid-term.
4.5 stars
63% would recommend
Planisware
Category: Strategic Portfolio management, Project Portfolio Management
A French company, Planisware has an SPM product primarily focused on the Healthcare and Manufacturing industries. Planisware focuses on supporting value streams, OKRs and funding approaches and has made a recent foray into the IIPA space.
4.8 Stars
93% would recommend
Software AG
Category: Strategic Portfolio Management, Integrated IT Portfolio Analysis
Software AG, a publicly listed software vendor based in Germany has a history across multiple product segments in particular in the IIPA space. The SoftwareAG Alfabet product supports the SEM and IIPA use cases with a focus on innovation and demand management. Software AG leads the way with their use of AI technologies which stands to provide a strong point of differentiation in the future.
Our tip: Leverage the integration of Software AG’s IIPA focused product and Shibumi’s SPM specialized solution to achieve the ideal IIPA, SEM and EPPM platform.
4.6 Stars
86% would recommend
Broadcom
Category: Project Portfolio Management, Integrated IT Portfolio Analysis
Broadcom, traditionally a semi-conductor organization is today a $30bn conglomerate of several technology acquisitions. One of the acquisitions was CA Technologies and their product portfolio include Clarity PPM. CA Clarity, now known as Broadcom Clarity is a well-established PPM and IIPA player in the market.
4.0 (PPM)
67% would recommend
Uppwise / Project Objects
Category: Project Portfolio Management
Uppwise or Project Objects rather uniquely still offers SPM solutions both on-premises and in the cloud. With a customer base largely made up of organizations under $1Bn Uppwise / Project Objects has customers across Europe, North and South America and to a lesser degree Asia.
4.6 Stars (PPM)
71% Would Recommend
In conclusion, the emergence of the Strategic Portfolio Management market is recognition of the role that software can play in helping organizations drive an agile, innovation centric, continuous improvement culture. The leading solutions in this category stand to support the needs of Strategy Leaders, ePMO leaders and IT Leaders to establish an ever-improving strategic portfolio management capability. Future-fit, agile organizations that embrace an SPM culture stand the best chance of outlasting and outperforming the competition.
About Shibumi:
Founded in 2012, the world’s leading organizations rely on Shibumi to achieve their most strategic business objectives. For more information, visit www.shibumi.com/